Aspects of Blast Resistant Masonry Design

Blast resistant design should be examined for building code incorporation, due to the potential of explosions occurring in an industrial society. Specifically, public and commercial structures of concrete masonry construction need additional building code criteria, since these buildings have high density populations to protect. Presently, blast resistant design is accomplished by using government published manuals, but these do not address industry standard construction. A design procedure is presented to illustrate and regulate the methodology. Using this procedure, a common wall section is shown capable of withstanding an air blast load of 4.54 kg (10 lbs) of TNT, located 0.91 m (3 ft) above ground surface and 30.48 m (100 ft) from a structure. Building code criteria in this order of magnitude is sufficient to protect against blast, resist progressive failure, and yet not be an economic impediment. Design details and adequate inspection must be observed to ensure blast resistant integrity.